First, if you haven't watched any episodes of ABC's "Once Upon a Time" television series, you're really missing out. I watch quite a bit of (probably too much) television, and Once Upon a Time was easily my favorite show last year. In fact, I would even say that the first season was the absolutely best season of TV I have ever seen.
Besides the intriguing rewrites of familiar fairy tales, there was superb acting, beautiful costumes, and absolutely breathtaking scenery (CGI, of course). But one of my favorite backgrounds of the show was the interior design of the mayor's office. Mayor Regina Mills (trying desperately to hide her true identity as the evil queen and stepmother of Snow White) has an absolutely gorgeous black-and-white office that features, among other things, a really interesting tree-lined wallpaper.
I wanted to incorporate that wallpaper (or something similar) in the master bedroom of my new house, on a single accent wall behind the bed. First, I looked at wallpaper, and was amazed that I was able to find the exact same wallpaper used for the Once Upon a Time set on Anthropologie. Of course I wanted the exact wallpaper, but it would end up being much more expensive than I'd ever planned to spend decorating my bedroom (even for just one wall), and on top of the expense, the instructions for installing the wallpaper seemed way too complicated to do myself (and the reviews of the product agreed with my assessment, encouraging the hiring of a professional to install it).
I decided it would be easier to paint a mural of similar looking trees on the accent wall, and I'm so glad I did. I paid about $10 for the black paint, $10 for a handy paint bucket to pour it in, used an old brush from my art studio, and maybe $5 worth of painter's tape - significantly less than if I'd purchased the wallpaper, which would have been more than $400 for supplies, not including the cost of hiring a professional. Yes, it took a lot of time (I spent several hours on it over the course of five days), but it turned out even better than I expected, and I would spend all that time to do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Okay, enough talk. Here are the pictures I know you're dying to see. :)
First, we painted the other three walls a slightly blue-tinted medium gray, and the accent wall, ceiling, and trim around the whole room a very light gray that looks almost white. Then I measured where I wanted the main tree trunks on the wall and marked them off with painter's tape.
I drew freehand where I wanted all of the branches to go but didn't bother taping off the smaller branches because I knew it would 1) take forever if I did, and 2) waste a lot of tape. I knew I'd be careful painting the smaller branches anyway, and I wanted it to look a little gestural. Plus, I had plenty of extra light gray paint to go over any mistakes at the end (even after we used the same color to paint the staircase to our basement).
And then I painted! I got a (free!) sample of the actual Once Upon a Time wallpaper from Anthropologie and looked to it for guidance on how to add the details to the trees so that they'd look surprisingly realistic from a distance but obviously painted and really interesting up close.
Here's the final result!
Finally, when all the paint was dry, we moved our furniture back into place. Then we picked out a dark blue curtain to match our bedspread (and help block some of that early morning sunshine!) and replaced the old ceiling light/fan (though I took this picture before that last change was made). Voila! A super unique room with an awesome wintery tree mural I'm really proud of that pays homage to a television show my husband and I absolutely adore. What could be better?? :)
-
Shameless Plug Time: Love this mural, color combination and my decor ideas? I also paint watercolors (and occasionally acrylics)! Interested in purchasing one? Email me for more information!
Looking for custom stationery made to match these colors (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view stationery samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.
Besides the intriguing rewrites of familiar fairy tales, there was superb acting, beautiful costumes, and absolutely breathtaking scenery (CGI, of course). But one of my favorite backgrounds of the show was the interior design of the mayor's office. Mayor Regina Mills (trying desperately to hide her true identity as the evil queen and stepmother of Snow White) has an absolutely gorgeous black-and-white office that features, among other things, a really interesting tree-lined wallpaper.
I wanted to incorporate that wallpaper (or something similar) in the master bedroom of my new house, on a single accent wall behind the bed. First, I looked at wallpaper, and was amazed that I was able to find the exact same wallpaper used for the Once Upon a Time set on Anthropologie. Of course I wanted the exact wallpaper, but it would end up being much more expensive than I'd ever planned to spend decorating my bedroom (even for just one wall), and on top of the expense, the instructions for installing the wallpaper seemed way too complicated to do myself (and the reviews of the product agreed with my assessment, encouraging the hiring of a professional to install it).
I decided it would be easier to paint a mural of similar looking trees on the accent wall, and I'm so glad I did. I paid about $10 for the black paint, $10 for a handy paint bucket to pour it in, used an old brush from my art studio, and maybe $5 worth of painter's tape - significantly less than if I'd purchased the wallpaper, which would have been more than $400 for supplies, not including the cost of hiring a professional. Yes, it took a lot of time (I spent several hours on it over the course of five days), but it turned out even better than I expected, and I would spend all that time to do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Okay, enough talk. Here are the pictures I know you're dying to see. :)
First, we painted the other three walls a slightly blue-tinted medium gray, and the accent wall, ceiling, and trim around the whole room a very light gray that looks almost white. Then I measured where I wanted the main tree trunks on the wall and marked them off with painter's tape.
I drew freehand where I wanted all of the branches to go but didn't bother taping off the smaller branches because I knew it would 1) take forever if I did, and 2) waste a lot of tape. I knew I'd be careful painting the smaller branches anyway, and I wanted it to look a little gestural. Plus, I had plenty of extra light gray paint to go over any mistakes at the end (even after we used the same color to paint the staircase to our basement).
And then I painted! I got a (free!) sample of the actual Once Upon a Time wallpaper from Anthropologie and looked to it for guidance on how to add the details to the trees so that they'd look surprisingly realistic from a distance but obviously painted and really interesting up close.
Here's the final result!
I painted the shading on the tree trunks and branches on the right because the window (which faces east) was to their left, and I wanted it to seem like the sunlight streaming in the window was hitting the left sides of the trees. :)
Finally, when all the paint was dry, we moved our furniture back into place. Then we picked out a dark blue curtain to match our bedspread (and help block some of that early morning sunshine!) and replaced the old ceiling light/fan (though I took this picture before that last change was made). Voila! A super unique room with an awesome wintery tree mural I'm really proud of that pays homage to a television show my husband and I absolutely adore. What could be better?? :)
-
Shameless Plug Time: Love this mural, color combination and my decor ideas? I also paint watercolors (and occasionally acrylics)! Interested in purchasing one? Email me for more information!
Looking for custom stationery made to match these colors (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view stationery samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.
No comments:
Post a Comment